Food

From Chile to Mexico: Latin American Restaurants Listed in World’s 50 Best for 2021

Lead Photo: View of the Maido high-cuisine restaurant. Photo: CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP via Getty Images
View of the Maido high-cuisine restaurant. Photo: CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP via Getty Images

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants were recently named, and there were several listed from Latin America.

To compile the annual list, more than 1,000 culinary experts shared their opinions about the finest restaurants they’ve dined in that year. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a list was not announced last year.

This year, Central in Lima, Peru, came in at No. 4 and was also named the “Best Restaurant in South America.” Another restaurant in Lima, Maido, made the list at No. 7.

“Thank you very much to all of our immense community for the support and love,” Central posted on their Instagram page.

Maido thanked its customers, employees, and vendors who have helped it become the restaurant it is today. “A joy for Peru in these difficult times,” the restaurant posted on Instagram. “Working together, we will achieve great things! A great moment for Latin America, too!”

Cosme, a restaurant in New York City, listed at No. 22, is headed by Mexican Chef Enrique Olvera. However, it should be that noted that in 2019, several former employees of Cosme filed a labor lawsuit against Olvera and the restaurant. Olvera also runs Pujol in his hometown of Mexico City. This past summer, he was accused of alleged exploitation and psychological harassment by a chef intern.

Pujol in Mexico City was named “Best Restaurant in North America” and reached the No. 9 spot. Other Latin American restaurants listed were Don Julio in Buenos Aires, Argentina (No. 13); A Casa do Porco in São Paulo, Brazil (No. 17); Quintonil in Mexico City (No. 27); Boragó in Santiago, Chile (No. 38), which was also given the “Sustainable Restaurant Award;” and Leo in Bogotá, Colombia (No. 46).